mmers

Vision spoke.

v the billows rave,—

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e leopards in the wave,-
eas that broke.

en a human word

And scorn began to trace

wild, imperious face;

d lips stirred,

food blow sil

an instant we were free

tment: fleet as deer they turned er leapt the sands they spurned; hem meet the sea.

en-chorded surf, unquelled,
ander to the granite walls;
ike broken clarion-calls,
nful laughter welled.

save for cloven wave and wind,
d faltered on its little dune.
og-wall reared, and hid the moon.
e night lay vast and blind.

waited the assuring morn,

ose on angered waters. But we set ded prows to sea, and, tempest-wet, Beat up the coast forlorn.

man scorned our tale, for well they knew
mystery befallen: in our eyes

e alien terrors and unknown surmise.
Men saw the tale was true.

no man seeks a refuge on that shore, hough tempests gather in impelling skies; nseen, unsolved, unhazarded it lies,

Forsaken evermore.ob

For on those sands immaculate and lone Perchance They list the sea's immeasured lyre, When sunset casts an evanescent fire

Through billows thunder-sown.

George Sterling [1869–

THE BLESSED DAMOZEL

THE blessed damozel leaned out
From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the depth
Of waters stilled at even;

She had three lilies in her hand,

And the stars in her hair were seven.

Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,
No wrought flowers did adorn,
But a white rose of Mary's gift,
For service sweetly worn;
Her hair that lay along her back
Was yellow like ripe corn.

Herseemed she scarce had been a day

One of God's choristers;
The wonder was not yet quite gone
From that still look of hers;
Albeit, to them she left, her day
Had counted as ten years.

...

(To one, it is ten years of years.
Yet now, and in this place,
Surely she leaned o'er me-her hair
Fell all about my face.

...

Nothing: the autumn fall of leaves.
The whole year sets apace.)

It was the rampart of God's house
That she was standing on;
By God built over the sheer depth
The which is Space begun;

So high, that looking downward thence
She scarce could see the sun.

The Blessed Damozel

s in Heaven, across the flood ether, as a bridge.

ath, the tides of day and night ith flame and darkness ridge void, as low as where this earth ins like a fretful midge.

and her, lovers, newly met fid deathless love's acclaims, ke evermore among themselves heir heart-remembered names; the souls mounting up to God Vent by her like thin flames.

still she bowed herself and stooped Put of the circling charm;

til her bosom must have made The bar she leaned on warm,

d the lilies lay as if asleep

Along her bended arm.

om the fixed place of Heaven she saw

Time like a pulse shake fierce

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rough all the worlds. Her gaze still strove

Within the gulf to pierce

path; and now she spoke as when

The stars sang in their spheres.

he sun was gone now; the curled moon Was like a little feather

uttering far down the gulf; and now She spoke through the still weather. er voice was like the voice the stars Had when they sang together.

h sweet! Even now, in that bird's song, Strove not her accents there,

in to be hearkened? When those bells Possessed the mid-day air,

rove not her steps to reach my side

Down all the echoing stair?)

"I wish that he were come to me,

For he will come," she said.

"Have not I prayed in Heaven?-on earth,

Lord, Lord, has he not prayed?

Are not two prayers a perfect strength?

And shall I feel afraid?

"When round his head the aureole clings,

And he is clothed in white,

I'll take his hand and go with him
To the deep wells of light;

As unto a stream we will step down,
And bathe there in God's sight.

"We two will stand beside that shrine,
Occult, withheld, untrod,
Whose lamps are stirred continually
With prayer sent up to God;

And see our old prayers, granted, melt
Each like a little cloud.

"We two will lie i' the shadow of

That living mystic tree

Within whose secret growth the Dove

Is sometimes felt to be,

While every leaf that His plumes touch
Saith His Name audibly.

"And I myself will teach to him,

I myself, lying so,

The songs I sing here; which his voice

Shall pause in, hushed and slow,
And find some knowledge at each pause,
Or some new thing to know."

(Alas! we two, we two, thou say'st!

Yea, one wast thou with me

That once of old. But shall God lift

To endless unity

The soul whose likeness with thy soul

Was but its love for thee?)

The Blessed Damozel

wo," she said, "will seek the groves
ere the lady Mary is,

her five handmaidens, whose names
five sweet symphonies,

, Gertrude, Magdalen,

rgaret and Rosalys.

lewise sit they, with bound locks

d foreheads garlanded;

the fine cloth white like flame eaving the golden thread,

shion the birth-robes for them ho are just born, being dead.

shall fear, haply, and be dumb: hen will I lay my cheek his, and tell about our love, ot once abashed or weak: the dear Mother will approve ly pride, and let me speak.

erself shall bring us, hand in hand, To Him round whom all souls

cel, the clear-ranged unnumbered heads Bowed with their aureoles:

d angels meeting us shall sing To their citherns and citoles.

There will I ask of Christ the Lord
Thus much for him and me:-

ly to live as once on earth

With Love, only to be,

then awhile, for ever now

Together, I and he."

he gazed and listened and then said,

Less sad of speech than mild,

All this is when he comes.' She ceased.

The light thrilled towards her, filled

With angels in strong level flight.
Her eyes prayed, and she smiled.

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